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Creatively Capturing Perceptions: Town Centre Gardens

In August 2006 Stevenage Borough Council commissioned GHP to undertake a community consultation prior to the redevelopment of the Town Centre Gardens.

The gardens, over forty years old, were in need of significant creative and financial investment. There are a number of recognised issues with the park, including access, sense of place, drug use and perception of crime.

For the first stage of this Image: Open House in Town Centre Gardensproject, GHP commissioned artists, Beverley Carpenter and Patricia MacKinnon-Day to lead a piece of creative consultation, following the Perception AREA: Snapshot model. During a short timeframe, the artists worked in residence in the park, capturing the perceptions at that specific time, i.e. a snapshot, of people who live nearby, pass through the park, or work / shop in the adjacent town centre, to understand their knowledge of the Park’s relevance to the new town heritage.

Stevenage Borough Council appointed GHP to carry out the masterplan for the park and GHP worked with HTA Architects to engage the community throughout the masterplanning process. Beverley continued to work with the lead landscape architect, Oliver Rock of HTA and key consultation groups, who expressed their thoughts about how they would like to use the park, and this information was regularly fed back into the development of the designs for the masterplan.

Stevenage was successful in securing Stage 1 of their HLF bid to the ‘Parks for People’ fund for nearly £2 million to implement the masterplan. GHP was instrumental to the bid in engaging the local community, developing the masterplan, and writing a Community Engagement Strategy.

Image: Artistic Impression of Stevenage Town Centre GardensWork has now been completed on (started onsite in November 2007) implementing the first phase of the masterplan developed by GHP in partnership with HTA Landscape Design, funded by Communities & Local Government’s Growth Areas Fund.

The team is now working on detailed designs and supplementary plans for Stage 2 submission to secure the rest of the HLF funding. GHP has brought on board artist Simon Grennan and is ensuring that throughout this phase the community is engaged and contributes to the plans.

 >> Find out more


Project Type

Perception AREA

Capital Development


Partner Links

Stevenage Borough Council

HTA Architects

CABE space


The Team

Stevenage Borough Council
Strategic Development Officer/Project Manager
External Funding Officer
Strategic Developments Officer
Community Development Officer

Senior Landscape & Amenities Officer
Tree Officer
Open Space & Street Scene Manager
Green Spaces Project Manager
Regeration Manager
Parks Manager

Hertfordshire County Council
Community Strategy Officer, Regeneration & Partnerships Unit

CABE Space
Enabling & Delivery Advisor

HTA Architects Ltd

BCTV South and West Herts

Artists
Beverley Carpenter
Patricia MacKinnon Day
Kimberley Bevan 

Back to Stevenage Borough Council Page
Stevenage Borough Council
 
Stevenage Borough Council website
 
Photography: Beverley Carpenter/ Patricia McKinnon Day ©
 
Masterplanning Publication wins National Award
 
HTA Masterplan design statement (PDF)
 
Stevenage masterplanning document (PDF)
 

Visit the interactive Open House website

 
Artistic Impression: HTA Architects ©